13 Research methods, statistics, critical review and evidence-based practice13.7 Qualitative research
13.7.4.4 Discourse analysis
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Written by Resident Doctor Committee · Published
New in the 2027 syllabus
The College added this topic for exams from January 2027.
What it is
Discourse analysis looks at what language does in social interaction. It asks how talk and text build identities, assign responsibility, set out what counts as knowledge, and express power.
The question is not only whether an account reports events accurately. It is also how the wording, and the context in which it was spoken or written, produce meaning.
Data can include interviews, consultations, policy documents or media accounts. They should be chosen to answer a clearly framed question.
What to look at
Feature | Example question |
|---|---|
Categories | How does a record define someone as compliant or difficult? |
Agency | Who is described as making a decision or causing a problem? |
Repetition and contrast | Which descriptions are treated as normal, and which as exceptional? |
Institutional setting | How do roles and authority shape what can be said? |
For example, you could compare how patients and services describe missed appointments. A discourse analysis would look at how each side assigns responsibility, rather than counting how many visits were missed.
There are several approaches. They differ in their assumptions and in their scale. At one end is close analysis of a single interaction. At the other is critical analysis of wider social discourses.
Appraising a study
Context: extracts should keep their context. A phrase pulled out on its own can lose the meaning it had in the conversation or the institution.
Interpretation: the analysis should be backed by the material and by the approach the authors say they used. A good study also considers other possible readings.
Reflexivity: the analyst should look at how their own position and assumptions shape the account.
Traps
Do not confuse it with thematic analysis. Thematic analysis usually organises patterns of meaning across accounts. Discourse analysis focuses on how language constructs things and gets social actions done.
A discourse finding does not tell you how common something is in a population, or whether a treatment works.
Showing that something is constructed in language does not mean the suffering behind it is unreal.